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Into His Marvellous Light. 1 Into His Marvellous Light. Donald M. Orr. Department of Theology and Religious Studies. School of Divinity. University of Glasgow. 2 Into His Marvellous Light. (1 Peter 2:9.) A special study presented as part of the requirements for the degree of Ph. D. by Revd. Donald M. Orr B.A., B.D., M.Th. (9710383) The University of Glasgow April 2008. 3 Acknowledgements. I would like to thank all the staff at the Centre for Theology, Literature and the Arts within the Department of Theology and Religious Studies for their support and advice over the course of my degree studies. Their open friendship and constant willingness to assist research has been inspirational in itself. I would also like to record my special thanks to Professor David Jasper for all his help in supervising this project, and to my colleague David Jack for his assistance in locating and organising the illustrations. 4 Abstract. Light allows revelation while concealing its source; it allows articulation while it is non-articulate. It is light that allows us to stand on the edge, that border between knowing and unknowing. It was the first great kenotic act, deconstructing darkness and it is this sublime aspect of light that takes us beyond the limits of our own imaginations, and in that process raises us to unexpected insight and perception. This thesis is a discourse on the sublimity of light that has provided a catalyst for fresh reflection beyond that which is actually presented whereby the sublime can be understood as an experience rather than merely an object or sense of perception. While light and darkness can stand symbolically for many realities theologically light became a symbol of divine presence and salvation in ancient Judaism where it was seen as God's glory, was revealed in columns of fire and burning bushes, and was envisioned as a sign of the perfection of the kingdom; 'arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you' (Isa. 60:1). Similarly at the start of the Christian era light is associated with the Eucharist and although Paul celebrates in Troas at midnight it is still noted that 'there were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered' (Acts 20:8). The expression of this has gone far beyond the work of theologians and necessitated an interdisciplinary approach to this study linking the work of writers, poets and artists, particularly painters. All Art is essentially about representing the unrepresentable. Beyond the mimetic this is more easily recognised and accepted and it is the art of abstraction that has accelerated the drive towards the sublime where “the sublime can be understood as first and foremost the result of a failed attempt of the imagination to comprehend an absolute of magnitude or power.”1 It is along these lines that Theology and Art can be seen to run parallel. 1Trottein. S. 'Lyotard: Before and After the Sublime.' in Lyotard. (Ed) Silverman. H. Routledge, London. 2002. P.197. 5 Art has resisted the repeated announcements of its death or demise. This is because Art has always moved within itself and has never completely located itself in any movement or mere style whereas Theology has often become bogged down in a floe of words that formed vast sheets, or melted away. Art has always been greater than historical attempts at impossible depictions of some ethical idea. Art is what is left in the absence of any idea; and it is the presence of absence that remains a central concern of theology. An interdisciplinary approach raises the question of the paradox of artistic articulation towards silence; that the words and images, as they become more articulate, come closer to finality, that they are a prelude to the silence of the sublime. This study is an approach to the articulation of light; the threshold of the sublime. Chapter 1 – Light is Intrusion: examines the initial kenotic act as intrusive and goes on to consider light as subversive, as an act of colonisation and as the creation of a narrative. Chapter 2 – Light is Transfiguration:examines the mystery and glory of light, and looks at the apocalyptic aspect. Chapter 3 – Light is Infinity: examines how this aspect has been rendered, its sources and effects. Chapter 4 – Light is Darkness: considers with how we perceive the unperceivable, and how we deal with darkness. Chapter 5 – Light is Apocalypse: examines the facility of light to reveal yet remain hidden and how this has been expressed. Chapter 6 – Light is Shadow: an inspection of the depth of light, and the notion of shadow as text. The Conclusion gathers these areas and illustrates how Modern Art has forced issues like formlessness and the sublime into the forefront of awareness. It is only through an interdisciplinary approach to this area that any clarity may be achieved. The nature of the differing languages of art and theology have facilitated the appreciation of kenosis as comparable to the Post-modern notion 6 of deconstruction, and it will be shown that where language fails the Spiritual and Art are the areas that fill the void. Art has always been beyond its time, forcing us to the threshold. The sublime was never about what we see or the fact that we see it, but about how we see it and it has been the task of the artist, especially the painter, to articulate the language of light. Light like language enables us to establish ourselves and the sublime light takes us beyond, to the threshold of definitions. The blinding light is shunned by most and endured, briefly, by a few who at that point have crossed the threshold where light becomes a reality, a full presence in their lives. The light that has become a domesticated commodity is not the sublime light and the deconstruction of “the post-modern is the precipitation of suspicion, the acceleration of questioning” 2provoked by the onslaught of abstraction. Post- modernism is not a chronological event after the decline of Modernism but a constant state of uncertainty and questioning. The sublime promotes and sustains a tough intellectual argument, and there is a profound tradition behind the development and representation of the sublime. The blinding light exists at the frontiers of human endurance where being may be to be more true but is also the place of encounters with the totally other. It is not a place of comfort or safety. This existence on the margins of the known and secure is a central aspect of the life of Christ, is echoed in the lives of the Desert Fathers, and found in the work of the artists discussed where examining the realities of the light around them has led to a new language that has striven to depict representations of the unrepresentable. They have determined how we must look more, talk less, and eventually, may perceive. This process endorses contemplation whereby we may travel beyond perception to an essence of transcendence and unity. 2Trottein. P. 197. 7 Contents. Artwork. Page. Location of Paintings referred to in the text. 11. Chapters. Introduction. 14. Chapter One: Scriptural Backgrounds. The Hebrew Bible 19. The New Testament 26. The Prologue of The Gospel of John 29. Apophatic Theology 36. Chapter Two: Artistic Backgrounds. The Art/Theology Intersection 38. Light as Form and Symbol in Western Art 45. The Freedom of Abstraction 51. Flatness, Formlessness and The Desert Fathers 55. Chapter Three: Light is Intrusion. 60. Caspar David Friedrich: Woman at the Window. 63. Jan Vermeer: Woman Holding a Balance. 67. Mathis Grunewald: The Crucifixion from the Isenheim Altarpiece.71. Light as a Subversive Process. 76. The Intrusion of Narrative. 80. 8 Chapter Two. Light is Transfiguration. 84. Morris Louis: The Veils Series 92. Transfiguration as Apocalypse 98. Chapter Three. Light is Infinity. 103. Richard Diebenkorn: Ocean Park 66. 109. Edward Hopper: Sun in an Empty Room. 113. Marc Rothko: The Rothko Chapel. 117. Iconoclastic Infinity 121. Chapter Four. Light is Darkness. 123. Into the Darkness. Henri Matisse: Port-Fenetre a Collioure. 136. The Dreadful Void. Ad Reinhardt: Abstract Painting. 139. Darkness Has Not Overcome It. Robert Motherwell: Elegy to the Spanish Republic 34. 144. The Whiteness of the Whale. 149. 9 Chapter Five. Light is Apocalypse. 153. Edward Hopper: Nighthawks. 160. Willem de Kooning: Excavation. 163. Chapter Six. Light is Shadow. 170. William Holman Hunt: The Shadow of Death. 173. Shadow as Text. Rembrandt van Rijn: The Night Watch. 183. Chapter Seven. Light is Sublime. 191 The Sublime is Now 200. Towards Formlessness 205. Chapter Eight. Light is Dis/illusion. 211. Conclusion. 226. Bibliography 230. 10 Artwork. Paintings referred to in the text: Jackson Pollock. Blue Poles. 21. Rembrandt van Rijn. The Artist's Mother as the Biblical Prophetess, Hannah.49. Caspar David Friedrich. Woman at the Window. 63. Jan Vermeer. Woman Holding A Balance. 67. Mathis Grunewald. The Crucifixion from the Isenheim Altarpiece. 71. Lucas Cranach. The Wittemberg Altarpiece. 74. Jackson Pollock. One and Lavender Mist. 89. Morris Louis. The Veils Series. 92. Francis Bacon. Study After Velazquez' Portrait of Pope Innocent X. 98. Richard Diebenkorn. Ocean Park No. 66. 109. Edward Hopper. Sun in an Empty Room. 113. Marc Rothko. The Rothko Chapel. 117. Henri Matisse. Port-Fenetre a Collioure. 136. Ad Reinhardt. Abstract Painting. 139. Robert Motherwell. Elegy to the Spanish Republic 34. 144. Edward Hopper. Nighthawks. 160. Willem de Kooning. Excavation. 163. William Holman Hunt. The Shadow of Death. ` 174. Masaccio. St. Peter's Shadow Healing. 178. Caravaggio. The Supper at Emmaus. 178. Gustave Courbet. The Stone Breakers and The Meeting.